Friday, February 14, 2014

Blog Tour: Kismet by A.E. Woodward

Katie’s world came crashing down in an instant.Her husband, daughter, and unborn baby. . . all gone in a flash. The life that she’d come to know, gone before she ever really got to live it.With a broken heart, she deals the only way she knows how, by shutting it all off. No communicating, no feelings, just pure nothingness.Alone with nothing but her own thoughts and a well meaning family, she moves back to her childhood home, a horse farm. It’s there that she finds herself healing along with the horses her family rehabilitates. But when Parker McKenzie comes back into her life she’s reminded of all that went wrong, and all that she lost.Will Katie ever begin to heal? Or will her secrets and loss be too much for her to overcome?Perhaps, this is her kismet.

5 star review by Jen Skewes

I am not sure there are words to describe my emotions after reading
this book or to explain just how beautiful this story was.It was emotional, heart breaking and so
real.

Katie had an amazing husband, a beautiful 5 year old
daughter and another baby on the way.The perfect life.Until it was
taken away from her in a matter of minutes.Her whole world, completely gone.Katie’s world has been completely shattered and she deals with it the
only way that she knows how.The same
way that she dealt with things as a child when she was broken, by not speaking
to anyone.She is in the hospital and
the only comfort she gets is by becoming mute, taking pills that relax her and
put her into a deep sleep.And when she
has to deal with certain issues and emotions head on she screams until someone
comes and gives her another shot to calm her down.Her family is concerned and the only way they
feel that she can heal and move on is to bring her back home.To her childhood home that she has not been
to in 7 years.The home that she left
because of one person; Parker McKenzie

Growing up Katie had some issues that was faced with.And she faced those issues the same that she
is dealing with the death of her family.But as a child she always had two people who always stood by her and
protected her.And they were her ig brother
Tommy and his best friend Parker.Parker
was always like a brother to her until he wasn’t.She has been in love with Parker for as long
as she can remember.But things happened
and hearts were broken causing Katie to leave town and never look back.It has been 7 years since she has seen Parker.An right now she is trying to move on from
the tragic death of her family and is not sure that she is ready to face the
one man that has always held her heart.Katie is carrying around so much guilt about what has happened and when those
feeling for Parker starts to re surface she questions if she can move on and if
she even deserves to. Will Katie be able to move on from the loss of her family
and find happiness?

This is a tough review to write without giving too much
away.So I will try to keep it straight
and to the point.This book is a must
read.It was simply AMAZING!!!For one I loved Parker.And while there was a moment where I was a
little upset with him I completely understood his actions and reasons for self
destructing. But he loved Katie and
everything that he did in his life whether good or bad was for her. He was always there for her and planned on being there for her now. He was a wonderful hero who you will fall in love with.

Now for Katie, her story just completely broke my heart for so
many reasons.For all that she went
through as a child, for what she went through as a teenager and now as an
adult.I loved her and just wanted her
to be happy, to find her way back and to realize that she wasn’t to blame for
anything.That moment when she realizes that her husband would want her to move on was an amazing moment and one that was done in such a beautiful way.She was
a beautiful heroine and so strong even if she didn’t think so.She has endured so much pain and loss and as
much as she wanted to give up she didn’t.

Kismet is a very powerful story of love, loss,
grief and forgiveness.It is about
trying to move on from that loss and learn how to heal and how to live
again.It pulled out so many emotions in
me.I felt the pain and heartache that
Katie was going through. I felt the pain
of her family who were not only mourning the loss of her family but they were
also so sad and heartbroken to see their daughter and sister like that.They wanted to help but didn’t know how.I loved her brother Tommy and the close
relationship that they had.And Dr. Stevenson
was such an important part of this story and I loved him and how he came to
care for Katie.

I honestly wish I can tell you the parts of this book that
made it so amazing but you have to experience it all for yourself.I am not going to lie this is a very
emotional story, one that will make you cry at times.But every tear and every emotion was worth
it.There are a few twists and turns that
I honestly did not see coming.And the
end was so real and so true to the story and one of the many reasons that I loved it.
This story is the perfect meaning behind the saying “Everything happens for a reason” That is always something that I believed in.The epilogue was wonderful and I
fell even more in love with Parker in the end.This is one of my top reads of this year and I highly recommend
it!! It is one of those stories that is so beautifully written, will touch your heart and stay with you. Amazing job by A.E. Woodward.

Hearing
murmurs coming from a corner of the room, I begin to stir. My eyelids are
heavy, more than likely from all the drugs. All I ever do is sleep so I
couldn’t possibly be tired. In fact, I should be rested, but I’m not, for my
sleep is never really restful. One horrifically painful memory, playing over
and over again while I sleep, isn’t exactly my idea of a good night’s rest.

The
more awake I become, the more my curiosity grows, and the faster my heart
begins to beat. The anxiety is slowly creeping in again. I do my best to
control it, but instead I find myself taking quick shallow breaths. The feeling
is all too familiar. I know myself well enough to know that I need to calm
down. I’d done it before. In fact, at one point of my life, I’d been a professional
at controlling my anxiety, and I know all the strategies to get myself under
control. But those strategies I learned so long ago don’t do much for me
anymore. In fact, they’re useless…powerless. Just a weak David pitched against
an all-too-strong Goliath. The gaping whole in my chest is just too much to
overcome.

They
were the only things in my life that made sense, and their love for me was the
only thing that kept me going. Without it, I wouldn’t know how to go on living.
Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, Michael had put me back together and Zoe had
made me whole again, igniting something deep within me that I thought had been
lost forever. I feel a tear prick my eyes. If I had known that morning would be
the last time I’d hug her, I would have never let go.

Eventually,
despite the urge to know what’s going on around me, I stop trying to open my
eyes. Lying awake, with my eyes still closed, will have to suffice. I’ve
completely lost track of time. No one can talk to me about what happened
because straight away I start losing it, and they have to drug me again. The
two people who loved me unconditionally, are gone. It’s bad enough that I have
to relive it every day and night in my dreams, I don’t need someone talking to
me about it in my consciousness.

It’s
unbearable to hear about them, and the way they were taken from me. The words
cut through my heart, slicing through all my hopes and dreams, and leaving cut
up pieces behind. I can’t deal. I won’t
deal. So instead, I scream to get them to stop.

Truth
is, I already know what happened, all too well in fact. It’s something that I
will never forget, no matter how badly I want to. I just don’t want them, or
anyone for that matter, talking to me. I don’t want to think about it. To know
that I finally got what was coming to me was punishment enough